A Little Halloween History and WItch Ridiculousness

Here is a bit of history for the month of October, the month of Halloween, spooks, and treats. It has become one of my favorite seasons of the year. This is a fairly non-scary post to ease our way in. 

This is from History.com, with a link at the end. 

Halloween Superstitions

Halloween has always been a holiday filled with mystery, magic and superstition. It began as a Celtic end-of-summer festival during which people felt especially close to deceased relatives and friends. For these friendly spirits, they set places at the dinner table, left treats on doorsteps and along the side of the road. They lit candles to help loved ones find their way back to the spirit world.

...But what about the Halloween traditions and beliefs that today's trick-or-treaters have forgotten all about? Many of these obsolete rituals focused on the future instead of the past and the living instead of the dead. In particular, many had to do with helping young women identify their future husbands and reassuring them that they would someday—with luck, by next Halloween—be married. There were many such Celtic traditions.   [more at History.com]

Now how about a little witch education as well? 

10 Ways to Identify a Witch  
Actually used during the Salem witch trials
[click on the title for more information]

by: Stacy Conradt 

1. Make a witch cake  

2. Weigh them against a stack of Bibles

3. Check for moles, birthmarks, scars, or extra nipples - they're marks of the Devil

4. Observe them talking to themselves

6. Ask a hard-of-hearing elderly woman if she's guilty while her good ear is turned away

7. Observe the number of pets she has

8. Take their sarcastic comments seriously
 
9. Ask if they've had dreams about Native Americans

10. Check to see how many times they've been married

Please click on the title to read the description of each test in Stacy's article!!!